How ‘Near Me’ helps us find what we need, not just where to go

Whether it’s a jar of spices or a restaurant, today’s impatient consumers want things in the moment they need them—which is typically “now.”

I’ve written about this impatience before. From on-the-fly travel plans to businesses “open now” to same-day shipping, people are using search to find answers to their immediate needs. And more and more, we’re seeing this time sensitivity combined with local intent.

In the past two years, we’ve seen:

150%+ growth in mobile searches for “___ near me now” (for example, “food near me now,” “gas station near me now,” and “delivery near me open now”).2

200%+ growth in mobile searches for “Open” + “now” + “near me” (for example, “restaurants near me open now,” “stores open near me right now,” and “pharmacy near me open now”).4

It’s clear that expectations for finding exactly what people want, exactly when they want it, are growing.

You’ve probably done a version of these searches yourself. And when you type in something like “open now near me,” what you want is hours, a specific location, and available inventory, not a slow-to-load website that buries the relevant information.

The challenge for marketers is to make sure you’re giving people the answers they’re looking for as quickly as possible. And the opportunity is capturing their consideration—and the sale—by doing so.